What a busy week. I spent a good chunk of Saturday doing my homework because it was the last day I could work on it. The auction this weekend really took all my time.

I had planned to show my final piece with the assigned grade like I usually do but Adrian hasn’t assigned a grade or critique of it yet. (It’s not late or anything. I’m just impatient).

So instead I’ll show the finished line art without the colouring. Ready?

BLAM!

This was super fun* to draw. (*tedious/frustrating/ego-shattering). The camera being fastened to the knee was inspired from all the pictures I found of photographers kneeling behind a tripod. Instead of dragging around a tripod and looking over your knee to see through it, why not attach it to your knee?! I know. I’m a super genius.

In the coloured version the nose is a little longer (suggested by my Mum). I won’t get into all the stuff I did to colour it (especially the stuff that I hate I did) until Part 3 so you can see what I’m rambling on about.

Anyway, my latest class, Landscapes, is about to start. I’m super terrible at landscapes so I better take notes. I’ll post the finished artwork (including animated gif of the production!) soon!

I’m writing a post before my homework is even finished! What a grown up I am.

This is Auction week which means 60-70 hours of work which makes doing my homework rather tricky. I’ve been plugging away at it a little each day this week but today (Saturday) the assignment has to be finished. Technically it’s due tomorrow at midnight but tomorrow’s auction is a 13 hour day which makes it hard to doodle.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve got so far (more or less). I started with a long list of random words to get ideas. Becky and I circled the ones we like.

After lots of debate I’m now making a Steampunk Fox Photographer. I’ve never drawn steampunk or a fox before I know almost nothing about photography. So this should be a hoot.

I did some silhouettes but they all started looking like skinny people with fox faces.

But time was of the essence so I just started to draw it. Here’s how far I got:

But I hate it. Blegh. The proportions just aren’t fun. So I started redoing silhouettes. I like this one:

I like this one. It’s less like a humanoid fox and more like a regular fox standing upright. I like that better. Big ol’ head. So now I’m going to start sketching again. Wish me luck!

Another week has passed. I never drew that octopus vs shark picture but the week just got away from me. There is an auction this weekend so I’m working a lot to get that ready.

Anyway, excuses aside, it’s been another week of school. Silhouettes was the topic this time.

Guess what my mark was on this assignment. 75%! Again! Arg. Adrian must hate me.

Ok he probably doesn’t hate me. I saw his critique and once again I can’t really argue. Fortunately he said he could tell what every silhouette was. That was good to hear. But I lost marks on some of the technical details such as:

His proportions are way off. He’s got tiny little legs with huge beefy arms. I know there is some artistic license granted with such drawings but with a “realistic” character like this soldier it doesn’t really work.
Also he didn’t like how symmetrical this guy is:

Truth is I actually did try to draw him originally at a 45 degree angle but I couldn’t get the muscles to look right. It made it seem more like a stick figure and less like an alien. So I drew it head on to show the subtle muscles. But that’s ok. A real studio wouldn’t care about “what I tried to do” either.

Fortunately I’m going to have another try at silhouettes for this week. CREATURE DESIGN! I’m super excited. I have to create a totally new character and sketch it up and colour it and all that stuff. Real concept arting.

BUT! He had a rule. NO ASTRONAUT RABBITS. WHAT?!?! Space bunnies are my jam! THIS WHOLE WEBCOMIC IS ABOUT A RABBIT IN SPACE!

He showed us a handful of example concept arts and one of them was a rabbit in a space suit. So at the end he specifically said this sentence “Don’t do any of the stuff I already showed you. Don’t do an astronaut rabbit”.

Remember in the last blog post where I said I was going to redraw the octopus? I didn’t do it. Because Space Engineers!

It’s this wicked awesome game where you build space ships and fly in space and…
Ok that’s it. And it’s all I’ve ever wanted.

LOOK WHAT I DID!

The BETA-CAROTENE. The Fuzzy Outlaws carrot ship that I just realized I never named on the website before. Well now you know the name.

I spent 3 days making this monstrosity and it totally flies. It’s not exactly like it is in the comic but it’s close enough. The game is limited so the inside is “close but not quite” everywhere. Here’s a bunch of screen shots.

Now I can take a break from the game and work on art. A new school related blog post is a-comin’.

I finally started concept art school! I’m currently enrolled at www.Vanas.ca in the Intro To Concept Art program. It’s a one month class to get students ready for the certificate or diploma classes that start in the spring. I very much want to be in the diploma program.

So far I’ve had only one class but it was a gooder. My teacher is Adrian Enciso and he seems like a good teacher. He has a lot of excitement in his voice which is good for me because I get bored so easily. The more excited he is, the more excited I will be. But the first day really only covers the broad question of “What is Concept Art” so we’ll see how you do next week, Adrian!

Sketch Tab: Upload a total of 3 pages of Character doodles and sketches in your own style

And here they are:

Amazing, yes? Easily 100% right?

Nope! Only 75%. At first I was all,
“Whaaaaat?? Adrian, you bully. How is this not the best stuff ever? It’s exactly what you asked for!”

But see that’s why I’m in school. Because I don’t know everything. And I need a critical eye. I watched his critique video today and frankly I’m very happy with getting 75%. I missed a lot of opportunities. The whole point of concept art (which is what the whole class was about!) is to give as much information with a single drawing as possible.

The only character on that whole page that really has more information than just the pose is the shark.

Yes we can see it’s a shark but look at him. He’s a stone cold killer. Tattooed with a look of determination and a custom made harpoon gun. This guy gets the job done.

But the giraffe (my moms favorite drawing) shows only a giraffe.

Is the giraffe a dancer? Is this the first time it’s done that pose? How can we know? In fact Becky even asked me “Are you going to put the tutu on him?” and I said “Nah. I think I’m supposed to focus on just the pose.” Stupid. Stupid me. If I gave it a ballerina outfit then we’d know a lot more about the giraffe as a character.

Now the octopus:

Look at those stubby tentacles. I really did miss a chance to go all crazy with long twirly legs. And it’s just an octopus. Is it intelligent? What are it’s hobbies? We just can’t know from this drawing. Concept art, man. Concept art.

And finally the hands:

Yes that’s a picture of Becky. I’m a lucky guy.
But for the hands I just gave her “mittens” (as Adrian put it) and he’s right. In the 15 drawings there’s really only about 5 hands. There should be closer to 30. (Sharks don’t have hands). I will definitely start spending more time on things like that.

Anyway, this is long enough. My second class is tomorrow so expect another post about it later this week. Before that I might even have another go at the octopus. I think I missed the most opportunities on that guy. Except some extra doodles this week too.